Fired Characters from an Idle Game

36. The Usual UFC – (1)

Karne wasn’t called the Mother of Ill Omens from the start.

Rather, she was once known as the Mother of All Things, watching over humanity.

An existence far removed from humankind, a Phantasmal Being.

Karne was a sublime being wielding the power of life, a blessing descended upon this realm.

Her fair touch made the land fertile, and her hot breath gave birth to new life.

Humans revered Karne, the Mother of All Things.

They built sanctuaries and offered prayers every day.

She cherished that reverence.

As the mother of all, she believed it was only natural to receive her children’s devoted love. The reverse was true as well. Karne bestowed love and made the world bountiful.

But love was not fair.

Karne loved all her children, but her children did not.

“Why…”

Betrayal arrived.

The priest she had considered closest turned his back on Karne. The creatures of the world she herself cultivated pushed her away.

“This harlot is no longer our mother! No longer our god! We will cease this idolatry!”

The reason was easy to see.

Karne was an old faith, and a wind of new faith was blowing through the world.

In the process, she was merely the old. A trivial existence, fated to wear away, unloved.

Sanctuaries in every region crumbled. Religious objects dedicated to Karne were melted in furnaces to become chalices for the new god, and the priests who served her changed their hearts, one by one.

Karne began to be forgotten in the winds of time.

“I see.”

Karne did not resent it.

Were not her children seeking new paths?

If so, as a mother, she must not begrudge them this.

So she thought.

“Ugh…”

Until the one called a hero plunged his blade into her heart.

The descendant of her children, who had sought her out in her seclusion, mercilessly tore her wings, ripped at her flesh, and planted a sword in her heart.

At first, she did not resist.

She believed she could resolve things through conversation.

Whatever the reason, those before her were also part of the life Karne had created.

“The source of all evil, the Demon Lord, is dead! We are now liberated!”

But with that triumphant cry from the hero, Karne understood.

Outside, it seemed, she was called the Demon Lord.

“…Ha, hahaha.”

Karne, once the mother of all things, was now the source of evil, a disruptor of the new world order.

And so, she met her death at the hands of her children.

But Karne was a mythical being.

One step ahead of death itself.

“Since I created life, it is my prerogative to take it back.”

From that moment on, Karne resented the world, she cursed humanity.

Hatred became a natural manifestation of her power.

She unfurled the black wings she had kept folded.

Gathering the seeds she had sown, withering the earth, drying up blood, and rotting flesh.

The world and the life Karne had created began to lose their vitality. The world she had once loved decayed.

The mother of all things was no more.

Instead, she gained a new name.

“…An omen! An omen has risen!”

Plague bloomed wherever Karne, steeped in darkness, passed.

Cities crumbled, and the land was scorched black. Life vanished in every place her hand touched.

Thus, she scorched half the world.

Humanity, once again, understood with stark clarity.

The Demon King, Karne, mother of ill omens.

“…Ha, hahaha.”

Decades bled away, and the world withered, unpityingly.

Even then, Karne was still called a cursed harbinger.

She was the wellspring of ruin, the mother of ill omens, the evil that extinguished life.

But she could not stop.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to say she *could* not stop.

Now, she had to exhume the graves of her dead children, to ask them:

“Why did you abandon me?”

Until she received an answer to that question, her curse would not end.

But an answer would never come, surely.

And so, she would remain forever a harbinger of ill fortune.

So she believed.

[Entering the Rift.]

*Fwoosh.*

[The Ruler of the Rift, “Actor,” presents the 5★ Mother of Ill Omens, Karne, with a 5★ Genesis.]

Until she met her new child, within the Rift.

*

“So, according to you, Karne is in China?”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh.”

Still nestled in my arms, Mirien continued.

According to the tale, Karne was apparently sheltering herself in a rural village in China.

Truthfully, even as I listened, I was cautiously watching Selene’s expression.

Thankfully, Selene, who had initially glared at Mirien with murderous intent, hadn’t acted on it.

Perhaps she thought it would bring harm to me? Whatever the reason, a shiver ran down my spine.

“So, Karne being in China… means we have to go all the way there.”

Why China of all places?

I racked my brain, but no plausible explanation emerged.

Well, I suppose it makes sense in a way. If you randomly point to a spot on a map, there’s a high probability it’ll be China, Russia, or the United States, isn’t there?

“Hmph.”

I frowned.

Whatever the case, confirming the location of a Rank 5 Calamity was a good thing.

However, even Mirienne’s tracking magic couldn’t discern what she was up to there.

“What scheme is Karne plotting? The fact that we haven’t heard from her means she hasn’t revealed herself directly.”

Sélène emerged from the Abyss and roamed about freely during the initial outbreak, and Mirienne erected a massive tower almost immediately upon arriving in this world.

So, what was Karne doing?

I hadn’t heard any reports of a Rank 5 Calamity emerging in China.

*Karne… she was definitely a character specialized in covert operations.*

Above all else, what worried me was the performance of Karne, the Mother of Ill Omens.

Unlike Sélène, who specialized in frontal assaults, and Mirienne, who was closer to a support dealer, Karne was specialized in tailing, surveillance, and assassination.

Since she wasn’t a Calamity who directly engaged in combat, I remembered often dispatching her on expeditions that required stealth.

If Karne was determined to set something in motion, it was an area that even Sélène and Mirienne, who were also Rank 5, wouldn’t be able to handle.

Perhaps she noticed my worries.

“My Lord, there is one thing I am concerned about… Might I dare to speak of it?”

Sélène, who had been watching me silently, bent one knee and spoke.

Sensing that the atmosphere was unusual, Mirienne also climbed off my lap.

“…Speak. What is it?”

“It is about Karne, that woman.”

Sélène narrowed one eye and continued speaking.

“Once, I had several conversations with the Mother of Ill Omens, Karne, within the rift. Although she dressed like a harlot and was a filthy strumpet who falsely claimed to be your mother, her affection for you was certain.”

“…”

I decided not to point out the epithets Sélène had attached to Karne’s name.

“…And?”

“However, all the Calamities whom you command were once beings discarded by the world. Therefore, we do not know what emotions she holds towards you, who has abandoned her twice now.”

“…You’re saying that perhaps only the two of you are still loyal to me?”

“Yes.”

Sélène, despite being dismissed from the base, came directly to me and pleaded to become my vassal.

Mirienne, although her methods were misguided, acted out of concern for my well-being.

However, it was difficult to conclude that the other two Calamities shared the same sentiments.

Rather, she might harbor resentment at being cast out from the stronghold.

“More than anything… Karne is… different in nature from us.”

“Different?”

“Having been abandoned once by her child, and now abandoned again by the lord she thought of as a child…”

Sélène hesitated, glancing at me.

But I could easily guess what she was about to say.

“She might be hating me?”

“…Yes.”

Hearing Sélène’s words, something came to mind.

Something Kang Sena told me when I had just become an S-rank Awakened.

Definitely…

‘Didn’t they say three Rank 4 calamities appeared in China and swept through a metropolis?’

I took out my phone and searched for related articles.

They were from several months ago, but it wasn’t too difficult to find.

The moment I saw the first article that came up, I let out a sigh.

[Three Rank 4 Calamities, Grave Crows, Appear in China. Estimated Death Toll in the Millions.]

“…Wow.”

That was Míríen’s exclamation.

*

Karne confronted a new world within the rift.

There, she found salvation.

[The Ruler of the Rift, “Actor,” gifts the 5★ Mother of Ill Omens, Karne, with a 5☆ Source of Life.]

The Source of Life.

The authority Karne had once laid down herself as she unfurled her wings.

The Ruler of the Rift, Actor, returned that authority, wiping away the plague and stench that clung to Karne’s sullied body.

Above all, he offered her tributes, like the devotees of the old world.

“What value… could I possibly have to this terrible calamity…”

Karne was a harbinger of misfortune.

A dreadful calamity that had corrupted all the worlds she herself had built.

A great sinner who should not, could not, feel happiness.

[The Sovereign of Rifts, “Actor,” gifts the 5★ Harbinger Mother, Karne, with a 5☆ Winged Scythe of Shadow.]

[The Sovereign of Rifts, “Actor,” gifts the 5★ Harbinger Mother, Karne, with a 5☆ Earth’s Embrace Amulet.]

Within Actor’s rifts, Karne found equality.

She received the love she’d lost in her previous world.

In the end, she could only find contentment in this new life.

“Does this mother’s child desire anything? Ask, and it shall be yours.”

[The Sovereign of Rifts, “Actor,” assigns the 5★ Harbinger Mother, Karne, to the 5☆ “Twilight Abyss” Expedition.]

Karne was loved, and she was willing to return that love.

Motherhood blossomed, naturally.

It was different from the world before.

She could shower her new child with boundless affection, and she would be repaid even more generously.

Though unspoken, just as Karne cherished Actor, he, too, cherished her.

Karne found solace in this world of rifts. Though only one, she had a devout follower who looked only to her, and a beloved child.

This thought lasted but a moment.

[The 5★ Harbinger Mother, Karne, is dismissed.]

[Calamity is unleashed. Their power is immense; they will lay waste to another world. This decision is irreversible!]

[Y]

“…Indeed. This mother is abandoned once more.”

Karne was forsaken again.

This time, there was no surprise.

Having experienced it before, she did not succumb to heartbreak.

However, neither did she surrender.

As she had done before, Karne intended to stain this newly entered world once more with her feathers.

“…Why?”

After drowning the world in black, she would ask again.

“Why was I abandoned?”

Time lost its meaning.

[The Harbinger Mother, Karne, sings of ruin. Fear the night.]

The curse of the Harbinger shall endure.